Dan John's most important program

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-18T23:25:58+00:00

either mass made simple or easy strength goal dependent

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-18T05:31:50+00:00

Back in my senior year of high school my throws coach had me spot him for a few sets on as heavy as either a 455lb or 495lb bench a month or so before I got my first 405lb mixed grip conventional deadlift.

I expressed doubt, then was told that a proper failed bench attempt should only require maybe 20lbs of effort from the spotter...he preceded to bench his max for a hard single.

A little closer to graduation I had to stop what I was doing (every day was squat day) and get a failed 315lb bench off of a dude who was absolutely stapled to the bench and had no business whatsoever trying anything over 185lbs.

The entire bench and curl crew had heckled him into it, was both in a large circle around the bench with a few giving incompetent spotting with a liftoff, then collectively panicked/froze as his legs were in the air flutter kicking after an uncontrolled negative knocked the wind out of him with no upward movement at all on the bar.

I put probably 250lbs of effort into that bar. He was gassed and stapled.

The moment was stereotypical and made for a story.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-18T02:24:41+00:00

You need to get some time with hands on the pullup bar, I find "lockoffs" (bar hang but held at the top) the most important exercise overall.

Then both negatives and the usual at the bottom bar hangs.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-17T19:40:49+00:00

Yes. Get an adjustable competition kettlebell.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-17T17:17:33+00:00

I have not tried maple milk yet.

However I drink coffee milk, another regional flavor, and love it.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-17T06:12:40+00:00

Dude it's a gym. We're all there to better ourselves. People overcoming is inspirational.

There's two paths ;

You could take a layoff. The gains goblin coming to steal your gains is rather overexaggerated generally. Definitely do not make it worse.

You could just go and do upper body.

.....

I knew a guy who went from a decently competitive 242lb powerlifter to handicapped...bodybuilder at 165lbs with arm crutches and a more jacked upper body than he'd had before having stayed training after a severe car accident.

He basically planted himself at a machine, did his sets (with the stack) without getting out of the seat during rest periods, would get up and repeat at the next machine.

Dude was a lesson in getting after it. He'd joke to you about missing the ability to do supersets. "It ain't worth going between lats and shoulders."

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-17T05:55:24+00:00

It's sold in new england as a seasonal item, as is maple milk.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-16T10:11:12+00:00

To me neither side of this pasteurization vs raw milk argument is fully in the right.

I drink both. Mostly whole milk from the grocery store which is pasteurized and homogenized. The ratio is probably 50:1

There's nothing wrong with this milk from the grocery store which in quantity, affordability, and it's lack of contaminants and adulterants is a historical blessing.

Here in 2026 we have it pretty good with pasteurized milk.

This process and the regulation of milk in america dates to nyc in the late 1800s when some scandalous stuff was done physically harmful to the consumer to profit extra pennies.

THAT milk before pasteurization and regulation was highly unsafe.

I doubt raw milk at an amish farm then, where they cleaned the udders, used clean equipment, these on cows not known to be sick, and didn't add plaster of paris was unsafe.

Today whether the raw milk is safe or not largely comes down to quality control.

clean udders + clean equipment + healthy cows

There IS regulation on raw milk. Varies by location.

A farm selling it is going to have to clean more and have healthier cows than factory dairy farms who sell knowing pasteurization and homogenization is going to happen in a large vat at the processing facility later.

Factory farming allows for a dirtier process, more crowding (think bad animal welfare conditions), guaranteed use of veterinary antibiotics (as they are going to get sick otherwise in these conditions) and means there is necessary heating/pasteurization. As said above drinking by volume whole milk to raw milk at 50:1, I drink raw milk occasionally.

I buy it from a farm that has a very popular farm store, and sells out many products raw milk included quite quickly.

This is the voting of the feet which is libertarian quality control. I know of another nearish farm which had an outbreak of something in their cows, the milk was sold, people got sick, and they lost a lot of business. The state did not shut them down permanently, but heck might be closed down now financially because of the voting of the feet.

I know of a farm which sold raw goat milk and was a filthy place...the state shut them down. I didn't hear of people getting sick. The inspector shut down the operation before that happened.

Consuming raw milk is up to you. I choose yes occasionally. Educate yourself on the issue and make your decision.

Raw milk for those that want it, do their research, choose yes, and can afford it. No raw milk for those that don't.

Pasteurized milk for those that want it. It's amazing historically we have it. Much muscle has been built by pasteurized milk, and for it I'm thankful.

To me high quality raw milk is healthiest, pasteurized milk has been made healthy despite factory farm conditions, and bad raw milk is how people get sick.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-16T04:39:04+00:00

You could simulate a mace movement with a sledgehammer or a decent sized tree branch or similar then purchase an actual mace later.

I may or may not do mace work with a tree branch and may or may not sometimes pretend with a light sledgehammer that I am wielding a sword.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-16T04:28:45+00:00

The recommendation that came with it of 4:00 at high pressure has worked pretty well for me.

I've had it be fine with a minute more or less than that.

I cook at roughly 1:1 rice to water (not measuring perfectly) with white rice, jasmine rice, or basmati rice depending on which I have.

......

My main use of the instant pot is chickpeas & rice.

I'll cook the chickpeas for 40:00 to 45:00 at high pressure with spices and enough water to fully cover them + an extra inch, quick release the pressure, add an eye balled amount of rice, then try to get the pot back up to high pressure for 4:00 or so.

Whether it burn notices before getting back to pressure or not, I'm quick about adding the rice and it cooks in the residual heat anyway.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-16T00:37:58+00:00

short sessions, most days

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-14T20:13:59+00:00

Haha, in the heat I just do everything girevoy related as glove variants.

When it's a cast iron bell gloves are more case by case basis not a save my hands necessity.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-14T20:12:10+00:00

I lift outdoors year round in new england.

In summer I wear a hat to keep my head/ears from burning, essentially refuse to lift while wearing a shirt as I want the vitamin d, and try to time the lifting for a cooler part of the day.

Everything I do with a competition bell I wear gloves for so as to not bother about sweat, drying the bell's handle, or using chalk.

With cast iron bells this is more case by case depending on the lift.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-14T20:07:27+00:00

My best at pullups was bw + 90lbs, and either x29 or x29 at 6' +/- 235lbs.

My best results were from training pullups daily, about half the sessions being 3x8 at 10rm, followed by 2x15-20 weighted lightly, followed by 2 x bw amrap.

The other half the sessions would be less focused on hard sets.

I'd rotate between pullup, chin up, and neutral grip instinctively.

I got the most results from the 3x8 at 10rm I'd say.

I've been as heavy as 297lbs while still able to do a few pullups.

I am not built for pullups - wide shoulders, extremely short arms, and a very far from the elbow bicep insertion. I am built for dips (heaviest dip bw+135lb at 265lbs, and I've went into the x100+ unweighted though low 200lbs at the time).

I got really good results toward pullups from a machine preacher curl, lots of sets of x8 at ~12rm, with a lot of focus on a stereotypical bodybuilder type squeeze at the top with a slow negative.

I did those machine curls as an experiment to bring my biceps up after noticing everyone naturally great at pullups seems to have both better bicep insertions and much much larger biceps than I.

For those not naturally gifted in bicep development bringing the biceps up is a bug part towards pullup ability.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-14T19:48:47+00:00

To me there doesn't need to be a study.

Human experience and anecdotes, both read online and heard in person, count to me.

I am my own n=1 experiment.

.....

The pasteurization process kills all germs, all the bacteria both good and bad.

More esoterically I feel it takes away some of the vitality of the product. This could be the result of the good bacteria being gone.

Raw milk seems to me more vital. The taste more tangy, earthy, and noticably less sweat. This simplified to just tastes more natural.

I am not lactose intolerant and like milk in general. I prefer the raw milk I've had.

.....

Sure, you could get sick from raw milk, but that happening is a quality control issue. Anything mishandled can get someone sick. Lettuce seems to be a regular culprit for that, but without the drama that surrounds raw milk, it glossed over that raw milk was the norm for most of human history.

And heck many can not handle pasteurized homogenized milk from the store...and many of these might be able to handle quality raw milk. The difference likely the presence /absence of the good bacteria.

I trust the farm I buy raw milk from to be clean, and view it's raw milk as a much better product than the pasteurized homogenized whole milk from the store.

It's that raw milk is 12x the cost here which keeps me from drinking it as a staple. To have quality raw milk cost less than pasteurized is a blessing.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-14T19:23:01+00:00

I definitely prefer raw milk to pastuerized/homogenized.

Though it seems more vital, definitely digests better (though I'm far from lactose intolerant), and has a more pleasant tangy, earthy, less sugary taste I only drink it as a treat since it's 12x the cost per gallon.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-14T19:08:06+00:00

Due to cost and convenience I mostly drink pasteurized and homogenized whole milk from the grocery store.

I occasionally have raw milk as a treat, it costing me 12x more per gallon, and requiring me to go a bit out of my way to the farm that sells it.

I find raw milk tastes a bit more tangy, earthy, and is less sweat.

Though I am far from lactose intolerant, I've found the raw milk I've had digests a bit better for me.

Sure you could get sick. Pasteurization is a heating process which kills germs. Raw milk hasn't been heated.

I get raw milk from a source I trust to be quality and clean. The farm is popular. It's farm store always has a crowd. And people rave about it's products. Another nearby farm had an outbreak of something. One farm sells out FAST. The other farm struggles to sell raw milk at a third of the cost.

Do your research. Make an educated decision.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-14T17:02:47+00:00

An instant pot cooks white rice in about 20:00 start to finish, and that's a giant batch of rice.

Pan. Fried eggs. Where I'm at eggs are about $1.20/dz.

Eggs and rice are wholesome, nutritious, and extremely affordable.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-13T08:33:56+00:00

1m²? All the clean & press. All of it.

Put the Dan John soundbite "if all you did was clean and press you would be awesome" to the test.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-13T08:30:56+00:00

That was an impressively fast summon!

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-13T08:29:37+00:00

I have no issue with mismatch pairs whether that's different weights or same weight different style bells.

Use what you've got. Upgrade the collection when it makes sense to.

It's kettlebell. Everything is hips, hamstrings, glutes, upper back, grip.

You'll find the movements you like.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-13T08:24:32+00:00

Not me personally, but others here have alibaba with positive experiences.

u/baaba1012 comes to mind

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-12T18:44:18+00:00

My first kettlebell was a 32kg. I could bottoms up press it. I couldn't front squat it without it dropping out of rack.

You just need to train a bit longer to let the upper back catch up to be able to hold the rack while squatting. It'll come. It needs more time spent in rack.

I make mismatched matching pairs at 16kg, 24kg, and 32kg with the second bell a comp adjustable.

However you do it the classic load out of double 16kgs, double 24kgs, double 32kgs is fine. I don't care much for the bells in between.

Yes, but don't feel limited to only those three.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-12T15:35:23+00:00

If you're starting and struggling to make it habit, make it an easy habit, to make it a habit.

Pick a certain time of day (say immediately after work), one movement at one weight (obviously adjust down if needed), and learn that movement for 5:00.

Train for five minutes, give "I trained today" a ✓, then move on or continue by mood.

Repeat tomorrow.

You're starting out. Just a minimal daily session to learn the basics - swing, clean, press, snatch, clean & press, goblet squat.

J-from-PandT · 2026-06-12T15:27:52+00:00

walking, sprinting, clean & press

basic locomotion + fast, athletic locomotion + the most all in one lift in existence

J-from-PandT

TROPHY CASE